To prevent discrimination in job hiring and promotion, in 1978 the U.S. Federal Government established rigorous standards known as the “Uniform Guidelines” for the use of testing and screening instruments used to distinguish among candidates for a given position. (41 CFR §§ 60-3). These standards are designed to prevent testing and screening instruments from creating an adverse impact on any minority or protected groups during the hiring or promotion of employees.
Over the last twenty years, a number of test booklets have been developed and published by various publishers in compliance with the “Uniform Guidelines.” One example is the Customer Service & Clerical Potential Inventory (“CSCPI”) developed by Richardson, Bellows, Henry and Co., Inc. The CSCPI is unlike most other tests in that responses are not right or wrong in the traditional sense. Instead, the performance of the group picking each individual item alternative have been statistically correlated across large samples of potential and actual employees for a position so as to create a test that can produce a total score for that position. This total score may legally be used as a factor in the hiring or promotion process.
With the advances in computer systems and the advent of the Internet, many different aspects of human resources management have been computerized, including online recruiting. In large part due to the rigorous standards imposed by the “Uniform Guidelines,” such online recruiting systems use only certain minimum candidate qualifications (e.g., college level degree, possesses a driver's license, number of years experience for a skill) as a way of identifying potential candidates for a position. It has generally been accepted in the human resources profession that choosing among potential candidates based only on minimum candidate qualifications will not run afoul of the rigorous standards imposed by the “Uniform Guidelines”.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a computer-implemented system for human resources management that could overcome these limitations and provide further advantages in the testing and/or evaluating employees or potential employees.